Ian Ritchie's distinguished career in science, in U.S. industry and in Australian Universities, has culminated in his outstanding role as Director since 1992 of the A.J. Parker CRC for Hydrometallurgy. His science has been recognized by his peers in awards, honours and Fellowships in interconnected areas of electrochemistry, physical chemistry, chemical engineering, solid state physics, mineral processing and especially electrometallurgy. His recent basic research on the fundamentals of gold dissolution in cyanide solutions is arguably the most important advance in gold hydrometallurgy in decades. In 1997 he was honoured as W.A. Citizen of the Year (Professions).